Differences in FE intake manifolds and interchangeability
 

I know that the FE blocks have very few differences, I know there is a fair amount of interchangeability between them... However, what I am trying to figure out is if I can swap intakes without too much, if any headache.

I have a 330HD that has a 2 barrel on it, the thing is a hog. Lumbering, slow, and doesn't seem like it has enough "oomph." While I am aware that with it being in a F600 that wasn't supposed to go fast, 45 mph tops just doesn't seem right to me.

With that said, I had a 330XD truck that was pretty quick on its feet for what it was, but it had a 4 barrel intake with a Holley. I'm wondering a few things...

1) Will any FE intake work?
2) Do you think adding a 4 barrel intake would help the old girl out?
3) Something I may be wondering, but more of a side note, the timing may be off a little bit. It doesn't like to run when cold and when you give it the beans on the pedal, she wants to fall on her face.

You have a FT engine, not an FE.

No 330 came with a 4bbl. But a manifold from a 361 or 391 will bolt right up.

Truck FT engines, not car or pickup.

An FE top end can be transplanted, but that's heads and manifolds.

It should do better than 45 unless you are RPM limited due to gearing. It should rev to 3800-4000.

You can fiddle with the timing and see if it's happier with a little more advance.

Sounds like you could benefit from a carb rebuild and adjustment as well.

Is it a Holley or Motorcraft/Autolite?

Yessir, that's my mistake. I'm used to lumping the FE and FT together, seeing as how both are essentially the same thing, but with their differences.

Alrighty, I've found some replacements online that I may look into, may look at the local junk yards and see if I can't snag one. May look into the FE route, but not exactly keen on that much work.

It had a "butterfly" style "govenor" on it that operated on crankcase vacuum, but I snagged the butterflies out of it, since any spacer I had was too short. It sits right under the carburetor. Seemed to help it out a little bit, but not much.

The timing is definitely something to look into, it's a bit finicky at times. Sometimes I cam run in through the gears fine and then there's other times where I shift into the next gear and I gotta push the clutch in and feather the gas, so it catches back up.

The carb is brand new, the carb that was on the truck was frozen from not being touched in years... I reckon the truck has been sitting for at least 10 years, before I got my hands on it. But it's, excuse my ignorance on a part number, what Orielly's offers for a '73 360... A direct replacement for a Motorcraft carb.


The story on the truck is that she has been sitting for many years and hasn't ran for any of them, the fuel lines were full of gunk and I'm going to assume that's why it never ran. After a new set of plugs, wires, carb, starter, starter solenoid, and blowing the lines out... She fired up and ran like a top... On old gas, of all things... She wasn't too happy to get back on the road, lol. All that said though, for a $500 truck, I cannot complain too much.

Someone also replaced the points with an electronic setup, and I'm wondering if when they did that, they didn't get the timing set correctly then... It was probably a part replacer farmer who didn't think to check fuel lines...

if they replaced the points with a pertronix unit, try advancing the timing around 5 degrees and see if it wakes it up.

Oh, it woke it up alright... It decided it didn't like it's alternator/water pump belt! Lol!

A step that a lot of people miss when ditching the points for electronic ignition (factory or aftermarket), is making sure you have the correct voltage while running. Most points distributors get the full 12v during cranking/startup, but drop to a lower voltage (6v-10v) when running via a resistive wire or ballast resistor. I believe something aftermarket like a Pertronix requires a full 12v with the corresponding coil for start and run power, along with the matching coil. Using an old style coil for points runs on 6v-7v, throwing 12v at it all the time will end up with the coil frying or exploding. A Ford DUI conversion (GM HEI clone) needs a minimum of 10.5v to function properly.